6.5-06 petloads

hooligan1 · June 22, 2012, 08:34 AM

I'm going to start working up data in the books for this chambering, does anybody have any recommendations to get me started?

Also, Is it advised to use 30-06 brass and just run it through the 6.5-06 dies?

Jimro · June 23, 2012, 09:23 AM

When necking down just make sure that your neck diameter isn't too thick for your chamber and you'll be fine. You probably don't have to worry about that if you use 270 Win or 280 Rem brass to form into 6.5-06, and you don't have to worry if you start with 25-06 brass and neck up.

I don't have any pet loads to give you, as I passed on a 6.5-06 a few years back at a gunshow. But you can find data all over the internet on that round.

Jimro

LkWd_Don · June 23, 2012, 11:05 AM

You might want to start with
http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/de...Powder&Source=

hooligan1 · June 24, 2012, 10:06 AM

Hell your right Jimro, the .270 brass would work fine,,, thanks for the replies gentlemen.

hodaka · June 24, 2012, 10:09 AM

You'll need to trim the 270 brass a good bit. I tried nearly every brass based on that case when I had my 6.5-06 but 25-06 brass was my favorite for ease of use.

hooligan1 · June 25, 2012, 07:58 AM

Well I'm setting on a pile of .270 win brass,,,.Is 25-06 brass as plentiful as .270 win?

sc928porsche · June 27, 2012, 07:43 PM

270 brass will have to be trimmed after sizing.......neck is too long....case was from the original 03 brass length and not the 06. The 280, 06 and 25-06 will work fine. 25-06 is not as popular as 270. If you have a lot of 270 brass, by all means use it. Just a little more work is all.

tekarra · June 28, 2012, 08:26 PM

I necked up 25-06 brass for mine. My load data is quite old so it is better not to post it. The 6.5-06 is a good round and I enjoyed mine very much.

Scorch · June 29, 2012, 02:19 PM

I got rid of my 6.5-06 over 20 years ago, don't ask why. I used 30-06 brass for mine, loaded with IMR4350 and Hornady 140 gr bullets.

Newtire · October 13, 2012, 07:13 PM

I just returned from a trip to the range. Loaded some loads I got from Handloader, May-June 1988 #133. These were the 125 grain Nosler Partition over 55 grains IMR 4831 like in the article and used a CCI200 Match primer. Don't know what they used? Were pretty accurate for first run through. Made these from necked down .270 Winchester in Winchester brass. Will try a few in the heavier brass (less internal volume) that I have. Didn't have to neck turn one single case although I have the neck turning tool ready to go. No turning necessary with Lake City .30-06 '68-'69-'72-"81 either.

Rifle is a M98 Mauser with swastika on action and a 24" bbl. Was a trial run for deer hunting next week. After deer season, will break out the chrony & check out these loads.

Would appreciate any loads you folks have come up with. Thought I would offer up this bit of info that has proved useful to me.

Mike / Tx · October 14, 2012, 06:08 AM

Myself and a close friend have looked thgis caliber over and over but neither of us has actually bit into it just yet.

Even so, if I were starting off with it today, I would go for the 30-06 cases and work them down. I would probably run the necks up into a .270 die just shy of the original shoulder or far enough to just kiss it, before working them all the way down to the final size. I have found this worked quite well when sizing down 06' cases for my 25's, verses doing it all in one step.

I would most likly go with one of the 140gr bullets as these would give me somewhat the best of both worlds, I would be getting some pretty decent velocity, but have enough weight and sectional density to potentially reach out as far as I possibly wanted to (within reason) and still have plenty of energy left over. Hornady makes the 139gr SPBT which has done very well for me over the years as has the straight spire point, plus these are usually a bit ch0eaper than most of the others out there.

I would also look hard at the powders in the medium slow burn rate, and probably be starting out with RL-19 and move up and down one or two from it. I have found that RL-19 does REALLY well in calibers with this capacity and will usually give both top accuracy and velocity with the medium weight bullets. It has done exceptionally well in my 270 Win, .280 Rem, and 7mm Rem Mag.

Other than that would be primers, I have used Win WLR for so long in most of my rifle loads I would most likly start with them. If for what ever reason they didn't work out I might move over to CCI and then Wolf, just because I have a bunch I need to use up.

Hope this helps, I know it isn't much more than suggestions but that is what you asked for. There simply isn't much difference between the .257, .264, the .277, and the .284 diameters when a load is concerned, they all start off with about the same internal case capacity. If you do a bit of searching between the 25-06, .270 and the .280 and see what is working for others using them, I would figure those components would also be a decent place to start out looking for loads in your 6.5

GeauxTide · October 15, 2012, 08:34 PM

Don't use 270 brass as it's too long. Use native '06 or 25-06 brass. My next purchase of brass will be 25s to use in my 6.5-06 as I've got a 280 and an '06. When I had it built in the late 80s, 4831 gave the best performance for 120s, 129s, and 140s. My barrel was throated for 140SGK, so I could load heavier. I haven't loaded any since I got a 260, but I started with 55gr of H4831 in 120s and 129s with CCI200. My barrel twist is 1-9, so it really liked 120s and 129s better than 140s.

June 23, 2012, 09:23 AM	#2
Jimro Senior Member Join Date: October 18, 2006 Posts: 4,330	When necking down just make sure that your neck diameter isn't too thick for your chamber and you'll be fine. You probably don't have to worry about that if you use 270 Win or 280 Rem brass to form into 6.5-06, and you don't have to worry if you start with 25-06 brass and neck up. I don't have any pet loads to give you, as I passed on a 6.5-06 a few years back at a gunshow. But you can find data all over the internet on that round. Jimro __________________ "Gorsh" said Goofy as secondary explosions racked the beaten zone, "Did I do that?" http://randomthoughtsandguns.blogspot.com/

June 23, 2012, 11:05 AM	#3
LkWd_Don Junior Member Join Date: May 17, 2012 Location: Puget Sound area WA Posts: 12	You might want to start with http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/de...Powder&Source= __________________ Lets Unite and REMIND our Government that WE are the source of their authority and that WE demand our Rights be returned, Unabridged, Non-infringed, without denial or disparagement

June 24, 2012, 10:06 AM	#4
hooligan1 Senior Member Join Date: July 18, 2010 Location: Independence Missouri Posts: 2,859	Hell your right Jimro, the .270 brass would work fine,,, thanks for the replies gentlemen. __________________ Thanks for coming!

June 25, 2012, 07:58 AM	#6
hooligan1 Senior Member Join Date: July 18, 2010 Location: Independence Missouri Posts: 2,859	Well I'm setting on a pile of .270 win brass,,,.Is 25-06 brass as plentiful as .270 win? __________________ Thanks for coming!

June 27, 2012, 07:43 PM	#7
sc928porsche Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2008 Location: now living in alabama Posts: 2,325	270 brass will have to be trimmed after sizing.......neck is too long....case was from the original 03 brass length and not the 06. The 280, 06 and 25-06 will work fine. 25-06 is not as popular as 270. If you have a lot of 270 brass, by all means use it. Just a little more work is all. __________________ No such thing as a stupid question. What is stupid is not asking it.

June 22, 2012, 08:34 AM	#1
hooligan1 Senior Member Join Date: July 18, 2010 Location: Independence Missouri Posts: 2,859	6.5-06 petloads I'm going to start working up data in the books for this chambering, does anybody have any recommendations to get me started? Also, Is it advised to use 30-06 brass and just run it through the 6.5-06 dies? __________________ Thanks for coming! Last edited by hooligan1; June 23, 2012 at 04:42 AM.

June 24, 2012, 10:09 AM	#5
hodaka Senior Member Join Date: April 23, 2006 Location: South Texas Posts: 1,527	You'll need to trim the 270 brass a good bit. I tried nearly every brass based on that case when I had my 6.5-06 but 25-06 brass was my favorite for ease of use.

June 28, 2012, 08:26 PM	#8
tekarra Senior Member Join Date: May 26, 2007 Posts: 1,040	I necked up 25-06 brass for mine. My load data is quite old so it is better not to post it. The 6.5-06 is a good round and I enjoyed mine very much.

June 29, 2012, 02:19 PM	#9
Scorch Senior Member Join Date: February 13, 2006 Location: Washington state Posts: 11,113	I got rid of my 6.5-06 over 20 years ago, don't ask why. I used 30-06 brass for mine, loaded with IMR4350 and Hornady 140 gr bullets. __________________ Never try to educate someone who resists knowledge at all costs. But what do I know? Summit Arms Services Taylor Machine

October 13, 2012, 07:13 PM	#10
Newtire Junior Member Join Date: September 20, 2008 Posts: 4	6.5-06 Hard to find data for I just returned from a trip to the range. Loaded some loads I got from Handloader, May-June 1988 #133. These were the 125 grain Nosler Partition over 55 grains IMR 4831 like in the article and used a CCI200 Match primer. Don't know what they used? Were pretty accurate for first run through. Made these from necked down .270 Winchester in Winchester brass. Will try a few in the heavier brass (less internal volume) that I have. Didn't have to neck turn one single case although I have the neck turning tool ready to go. No turning necessary with Lake City .30-06 '68-'69-'72-"81 either. Rifle is a M98 Mauser with swastika on action and a 24" bbl. Was a trial run for deer hunting next week. After deer season, will break out the chrony & check out these loads. Would appreciate any loads you folks have come up with. Thought I would offer up this bit of info that has proved useful to me.

October 14, 2012, 06:08 AM	#11
Mike / Tx Senior Member Join Date: April 9, 2000 Posts: 590	Myself and a close friend have looked thgis caliber over and over but neither of us has actually bit into it just yet. Even so, if I were starting off with it today, I would go for the 30-06 cases and work them down. I would probably run the necks up into a .270 die just shy of the original shoulder or far enough to just kiss it, before working them all the way down to the final size. I have found this worked quite well when sizing down 06' cases for my 25's, verses doing it all in one step. I would most likly go with one of the 140gr bullets as these would give me somewhat the best of both worlds, I would be getting some pretty decent velocity, but have enough weight and sectional density to potentially reach out as far as I possibly wanted to (within reason) and still have plenty of energy left over. Hornady makes the 139gr SPBT which has done very well for me over the years as has the straight spire point, plus these are usually a bit ch0eaper than most of the others out there. I would also look hard at the powders in the medium slow burn rate, and probably be starting out with RL-19 and move up and down one or two from it. I have found that RL-19 does REALLY well in calibers with this capacity and will usually give both top accuracy and velocity with the medium weight bullets. It has done exceptionally well in my 270 Win, .280 Rem, and 7mm Rem Mag. Other than that would be primers, I have used Win WLR for so long in most of my rifle loads I would most likly start with them. If for what ever reason they didn't work out I might move over to CCI and then Wolf, just because I have a bunch I need to use up. Hope this helps, I know it isn't much more than suggestions but that is what you asked for. There simply isn't much difference between the .257, .264, the .277, and the .284 diameters when a load is concerned, they all start off with about the same internal case capacity. If you do a bit of searching between the 25-06, .270 and the .280 and see what is working for others using them, I would figure those components would also be a decent place to start out looking for loads in your 6.5 __________________ LAter, Mike / TX

October 15, 2012, 08:34 PM	#12
GeauxTide Senior Member Join Date: April 20, 2009 Location: Helena, AL Posts: 2,932	Don't use 270 brass as it's too long. Use native '06 or 25-06 brass. My next purchase of brass will be 25s to use in my 6.5-06 as I've got a 280 and an '06. When I had it built in the late 80s, 4831 gave the best performance for 120s, 129s, and 140s. My barrel was throated for 140SGK, so I could load heavier. I haven't loaded any since I got a 260, but I started with 55gr of H4831 in 120s and 129s with CCI200. My barrel twist is 1-9, so it really liked 120s and 129s better than 140s.